Therein Lies Insanity, Walter
by NomDuClavier
Summary: A collection of what will be predominantly Walter/Astrid or Walter-centric fics. A wink to my homie Lo Tides' "Therein Lies Impossibility, Astrid" series.


**Series:** Therein Lies Insanity, Walter  
**Title:** Bull  
**Fandom:** Fringe  
**Characters:** Walter Bishop, Peter Bishop, Astrid Farnsworth, Gene, Betsy  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Summary:** Walter has an auspicious dream  
**Notes:** For talk_bingo on DreamWidth; beta'd by and dedicated to Lolita Tides as an homage to her TLIA series.  
**Prompt:** Helping

* * *

It was one of those mornings where you just couldn't tell where things had taken a turn for the unexpected. Was it when Astrid woke up and found she'd left the television on, her first memory of the day being that of a cooking show explaining how to prepare a rootbeer float? Perhaps.

If not that she knew it had to be her arrival at the lab and the subsequent minutes of interaction with Walter, which – when experienced and in retrospect alike – made her feel as if she was still deep asleep, it made that little sense.

"What's that contraption Walter's working on, Peter?" Astrid asked the prodigal son. It didn't occur how odd it was that Walter and Peter had arrived at the lab ahead of her.

Peter shrugged. "Hell if I know, maybe if you ask him he'll say. It looks fairly harmless, so I've let him keep at it. As a result I've managed to do the rest of the waking up I had planned for. Do you know he was at my bed at around 5 in the morning insisting we head over to the lab straight away?"

"I'd say you were kidding, but I know Walter better than that." Walter's 'assistant' hands Peter a mug of fresh coffee and a bagel.

"Well, you would know. I'm starting to think it's Walter's way of showing he cares for you; the earlier in the morning he wakes you, the more he likes you."

Astrid smiles, adding as a joke. "Well, in that case I'm expecting a proposal any day now."

"If you say so, Mom," replies the younger Bishop mockingly. "Mind checking up on Dad?"

* * *

"Astringent, just the person I was looking for!" Walter greets his assistant enthusiastically.

Young agent Farnsworth is pleased that Walter missed her—she does have a soft spot for the man. "You were? Without leaving your spot near Gene and this … thing you're working on? That's impressive."

"Yes, wonderful, isn't it?!" The scientist replies with continued vigor. "It'll shake the foundations of science, I tell you."

"So you're ready to demonstrate it?" Astrid tries, hoping to soon sate Peter's curiosity as well as her own.

"Oh no, it'll take a few hours more I think. It's quite delicate, you see."

"Yes, I see." Says an Astrid who really doesn't see what it is exactly, or how delicate the apparatus in question is.

"Good, good. Can't have my assistant accidentally take too little care with it." Walter nods. "Not that I think you're clumsy," he adds as an afterthought.

"What exactly is 'it', Walter?"

"It's BULL, or it will be when it's finished." Walter replies, smiling, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Bull?" Astrid seriously considers the date, then concludes it's not in fact Thursday, which might have explained things somewhat.

"Yes. Bovine and Ursine Language Learner, or 'BULL' for short. When it's ready it'll be helping me understand Gene. Think of the applications!"

"… Indeed." Astrid replies, not entirely certain what practical use talking to Gene would have that merits this kind of dedication of resources.

Walter scrapes his throat, preparing to deliver a description of the project which he foresees himself giving often in the future, as mankind marvels at the genius of his device. He tells Astrid what he expects to be telling the Nobel Prize audience soon. "I woke this morning. No wait… let me start over.

"It was an auspicious morning in the life of Walter Bishop when woke. He had woken up on many more mornings in his life before, of course – and sometimes he had woken up later in the day, but that's of lesser importance right now; then again perhaps the drug use up until now did have something to do with the circumstances which led me to wake this particularly auspicious morning in this auspicious manner…" His eyes glaze over momentarily as he considers this.

"Nevertheless. This morning Walter Bishop woke with the night's dream still fresh in his mind. He knew what he had to do, it was his solemn task to build a machine to better understand our bovine companions, help them communicate with us and us with them."

Peter, having overheard this all, joins in. "This auspicious dream, Walter. Tell us about it. I'm interested in knowing what prompted this particular bout of inspiration."

"Gene and I were playing charades. Betsy had gone to bed earlier, a sore loser. Gene didn't win any of the rounds either, but that didn't stop her." Walter pauses and pets the cow in question. "Isn't she a good girl?"

Astrid blinks. "You were playing charades with Gene in your dream, and that's why you are building a device to talk to cows. That makes a lot of sense actually."

"It does? You've been spending more time with Walter than I have, so it seems." Peter replies, whispering to her.

"Of course it makes sense," says Walter, "it's brilliant! In the dream I couldn't tell whether Gene's losing streak was due to her lack of knowledge of popular culture, a lack of basic intelligence, or our failure to communicate. This conundrum can now be solved." The scientist beams with pride.

* * *

**Author's note: **A long overdue fic... not this fic particularly, but any fic by me. Let's hope the writer's block stays gone this time around. :)


End file.
